Prostitute killer hanged in Iran

Prison authorities in Iran today hanged a man convicted of a series of prostitute killings that exposed the growing networks of drugs and illicit sex in the country.

Saeed Hanaei was sentenced to death in October for strangling 16 prostitutes with their head scarves in the holy city of Mashhad, about 550 miles north east of Tehran.

The judge originally promised a public execution, but the decision was changed and Hanaei was hanged in the prison compound, according to a journalist for the state-run media allowed to witness the event.

‘‘I did it for the sake of God,’’ the journalist quoted Hanaei as saying moments before the hanging held in front of some of the victims’ relatives.

Hanaei, a 39-year-old construction worker, told police he began the killing spree in 2000 after a man mistook his wife for a prostitute.

He confessed to 16 slayings, but several more prostitutes had been killed and police have made no additional arrests.

The victims - many with previous convictions for drug use - were strangled with their Islamic head scarves, which were left wrapped around their necks.

The highly publicised killings and trial forced an unprecedented examination into the extent of prostitution and drug use in Iran, where nearly half of the population is under 25 years old and many feel less bound by conservative Islamic codes.

Prostitution in Mashhad was also blamed on the rising number of pilgrims to the shrine of Shiite Muslim saint Imam Reza.